Legacy 1x05: Ghost of the Past
by Lady Dawson
Summary: Complete. In an attempt to make Susan vulerable enough to destroy her, Peter Connelly searches for the long-lost Grimoire in order to bring someone back from the dead, someone directly involved in Chris's past who can assist in this attempt.
1. Bianca Malone

**Legacy: Ghost of the Past**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter One: Bianca Malone

Wyatt Halliwell stifled a yawn behind his hand as he walked into the kitchen, finding his little brother pouring over some folder as he held a cup of coffee in his hand. He was _completely_ absorbed in the material he was reading, Wyatt noted as he walked up behind Chris. "What're you reading?"

"Oh, jeez!" Chris jumped a mile, his hand flying out and his telekinetic energy sent the dishes that were drying in the sink against the wall, shattering them to pieces. In addition to this, he knocked the chair out from underneath him, sending the younger Halliwell onto the ground unceremoniously.

With a groan, Chris grabbed the table and pushed himself up, glaring at his older brother, who was laughing. "Did you _have_ to do that?" he asked Wyatt laughed harder. "When did you get home? I didn't hear you come in."

"Yeah, well, you didn't hear me walk up behind you either, little brother," Wyatt said with a grin. Chris scowled at him. "I don't know, it was about seven-thirty or something."

"I thought that you and Brooke were taking it slow," Chris wanted to know. Wyatt shrugged; they'd agreed to that, but that agreement had lasted about two days.

"We _were_," he said, putting emphasis on 'were.' "Anyway, what are you looking at? You just finished up a couple tests, you shouldn't have one for another couple weeks."

"It's not for school," Chris said with a sigh. "I found these in Susan's dresser a couple days ago, when you guys got back from L.A. I think that Brandon might have orbed them over there right before he got captured by Connelly." He handed the folder to Wyatt, who picked it up, opening it so that he could look at the contents.

His mouth dropped open by what he found. There was a page of information about each of them. Him, Chris, Susan, Brooke . . . all four of them had a page in the folder, including pictures. There was such information about allergies, what they liked or disliked, previous girlfriends/boyfriend . . . anything about their lives that was relevant had been included.

"Where did he get this?" he asked, looking towards his little brother in astonishment. "And more importantly, why did Connelly have this kind of information? What did he need it for?"

"Offhand, I'd say that he's using the information to kill one of all of us," Chris said dryly. "We thought he was only interested in Susan, but maybe not. Maybe he wants all four of us dead and he was just focusing on Susan for the time being."

The elder Halliwell looked worried as he flipped through the pages carefully. He made a face. "How come Brooke's got so many ex-boyfriends while Susan has . . ." He checked the witchlighter's page. "None," he finished up. "Whoa, she's never had a boyfriend before you?"

"So?"

"Nothing," Wyatt said with a shrug. "It's just . . . well, I guess it's not so surprising when you think about it. She's not one of those outgoing girls like Brooke is."

"No, she's not," Chris agreed. "But could we possibly get back to what's important? Do we show the girls this first or talk to Brandon and see what he knows?" Wyatt shook his head just as the phone rang and Chris stood up to answer it. "Hello, Halliwell residence."

"Hi, sweetie," his mother's voice said at the other end. He grinned slightly; she called about once a week just to make sure that everything was all right with them. "Just calling to check up on you. Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine, Mom," Chris answered, rolling his eyes. "What's going on over there?"

"Well, we've had a couple demon attacks, but that's nothing new," Piper said and he could hear the exasperation in her voice. "But Phoebe's got a new book coming out and wanted to know if you boys wanted to come to the book signing at the restaurant."

"Really? She finished it already?" Chris asked, scratching his head. "I'd like to, Mom, but we've kind of got our hands full at the moment. There's this guy who's kind of been sending demons after us lately and we need to focus on him."

"What?" Piper's voice rose a few octaves. "Who's been sending demons after you, Chris?" Instantly, Chris wished he hadn't said anything.

"It's nothing we can't take care of," Chris assured her. "Believe me, Mom, we're handling it just fine . . ." Which wasn't a lie. Not exactly. "We're just not sure what he wants with us just yet."

"Is he a demon?"

"Not exactly," Chris admitted. "He's a fallen witch. Anyway, I think we may have a lead on it."

"Well, all right . . . if you're sure," Piper said slowly, her voice still slightly protective. "Just call for one of us if you need help, honey, you know that we're always happy to help you." Chris let out a relieved sigh, thankful that his mother was dropping the subject. "Would Susan or Brooke like to come, then? We saved two spots."

"Uh . . ." Chris was distracted by Susan walking in, looking around the kitchen and immediately noting the tense atmosphere, to which she frowned at them curiously.

"What's going on?" she asked, looking between the two brothers. Chris immediately decided that she should be kept in the dark until he figured out what was going on.

"Hang on one second, Mom, I'll put her on," he said to his mother, lifting the phone from his ear. Turning to Susan, he handed the phone to her. "My mom wants to talk to you."

Susan raised an eyebrow as she took the phone from him. "Hello?" she asked as Chris blocked her viewpoint from the table, where the file and journal were sitting, signalling Wyatt to orb them to his room. He saw the flash of white lights out of the corner of his eye and he let go of the tension in his shoulders. "Hi, Mrs. Halliwell, is everything okay? Yeah, we're fine. Well, there was a couple of demons . . . it's okay, we took care of them. No, we don't know why he's after us just yet, my Whitelighter is supposed to be taking care of it." Chris winced; he hadn't meant for his mother to start harassing Susan. "Wow, that sounds really cool," she said. Obviously, the conversation had turned to the book signing. "Today at 3:00?" she asked, looking at Chris questioningly. He nodded encouragingly. "Sure, that'll be fine. Yeah, I'll be there. Okay, thanks for inviting me. You want me to put Chris back on?" she asked, glancing towards him. "All right. Bye." She hung the phone up, turning around to face the brothers. "She said to tell you goodbye and that she loves you both very much," she informed both of them.

"Sorry, I didn't mean for her to start asking you about all these demons that have been after us," Chris apologised, but she waved his apology aside.

"Don't worry about it, it's okay. Besides, it's nice how much your mom worries about the two of you," she said. Wyatt moaned, rubbing his forehead as Chris rolled his eyes. "Okay, _I_ think that it's nice. Grow up, the both of you, that's what mothers do."

"You're gonna go to Aunt Phoebe's book signing, then?" Chris asked her and she nodded. "All right, you know where the restaurant is, right?"

"Yes, I do, but thank you for worrying," Susan informed him, kissing him. "And good morning to you, too." Chris smiled as he kissed her back while Wyatt groaned loudly from the kitchen table. "So, why aren't you two going?"

"Uh . . . Wy and I have some stuff to take care of," Chris said with a quick look towards his brother. Susan frowned. "Not demonic stuff, just brother stuff."

"Liar."

Chris grinned, realising how well she had come to know him. "Okay, so it's demonic stuff, but it's no big deal. I promise, we'll call you if we need you. But you just go and have a good time."

"All the while be given 'the Talk' by your mother," Susan pointed out with a smirk. Chris blinked; is that what his mother had been doing? He hadn't caught that, but now he realised that's _exactly_ what his mother was doing.

"Oh," Chris said weakly and Wyatt winced from the table. "Okay, uh . . . maybe I should go with you after all. Mom can be a little intense when she wants to be." Susan smiled at him, but she shook her head. "Are you sure? Wyatt can handle this thing—"

"Chris, I promise you, I'll be fine. Your mom seems like a really cool person, so I'm going to go to the book signing, you two go deal with the demon, and I'll see you tonight for dinner. Okay?"

"All right," Chris sighed as Wyatt shook his head. "Where's Brooke, anyway? Still in bed?"

"Mm-hmm." Susan raised her eyebrows as she glanced towards Wyatt. "She got really tired last night, I think. Although I can't imagine why," she added, giving him a look. "Weren't you two going to take it slow?"

"For goodness sake!" Wyatt exclaimed, leaning his chair back. "You know, Bianca wasn't this annoying!" He stood up and walked out from the kitchen, shaking his head.

Susan frowned slightly and turned towards Chris. "Um . . . who's Bianca?" she asked. Chris let out a groan, closing his eyes, wishing that he wasn't in this situation.

--

Peter Connelly paced back and forth across the study, waiting for the demon to return. Unfortunately, while he had a lot of admirable qualities, patience was not amongst them. "What could possibly be taking so long? After he let the Whitelighter escape, you would think he would want to stay alive as much as possible." And making him wait was not the best way to do that.

The demon suddenly shimmered in, bowing down before Peter as he halted in his pacing, turning around to look at the demon. "Sire, I have found information on what has happened to the Grimoire," he said as he rose. "It appears that its home is now in the West Andes. The sisters' Whitelighter planted it there after they destroyed the Source."

"Can it be retrieved?" Peter asked as he sat down, watching the demon. "And more importantly, will it submit to my rule?"

"Absolutely."

"Good," Peter said as he poured two glasses of wine, offering wine to the demon, who accepted the cup. "Because I need that spell if I'm to weaken that stupid witch. And if she is weakened, then she is that much easier to destroy."

"Of course, my lord," the demon said, though he looked a bit worried. "But if I may ask, sire, what spell are you planning to use?"

"The one to bring someone back from the dead," Peter answered as he looked down at the file identical to the one Chris and Wyatt had been looking at. "Someone who will be all too willing to help me weaken the girl. And someone whose presence will cause a rift between Miss Dawson and her precious lover."

His gaze was fixed on the file. Chris's page was open and there was a circle around one of his previous girlfriend's names. The last one that he'd had before Susan entered into his life. And her name was Bianca Malone.

**--Opening Credits--**

Title Song: "Chariot" by Gavin Degraw

Drew Fuller as Chris Halliwell

Wes Ramsey as Wyatt Halliwell

Michelle Trachtenberg as Susan Dawson

Anne Hathaway as Brooke Murphy

Hayden Christensen as Brandon James

and Shawn Ashmore as Bobby Connelly


	2. A Visiting Elder

**Legacy: Ghost of the Past**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Two: A Visiting Elder

Brandon James groaned slightly as he lay on the couch where he had been for two days. After the experience down in Peter Connelly's torture chambers, he wasn't keen on getting up any time soon. He still felt like he was going to pass out every time that he so much as sat up. It was incredible how bad the after-effects were, even when they were healed by a Whitelighter. Once he was able to stand up, he made a mental note to go over and thank Paige.

Susan walked into the room, French-braiding her hair as she sat down on the chair opposite of him. "So," she said pleasantly with a smile at him, "how's the patient this morning?"

"Is that a real question?" Brandon retorted, half-considering throwing a pillow at her, but the exhaustion pretty much threw that thought out the window. "I'm better than yesterday, but I still can't sit up without the room spinning around." He sighed, then noticed her nice clothes. "Hey, where are you going off to?"

"Um, Chris's mom invited me to a book signing," Susan answered. "So Brooke is going to stay here and take care of you while Wyatt and Chris are out investigating some demon."

"Great," Brandon muttered, leaning his head back against the pillows. "Well, you look nice."

"Thank you," Susan told him as she stood up. "Now, I know Brooke's cooking skills are less than adequate, so there's a batch of stew on the stove, all she has to do is heat it back up." She shook her head. "Of course, knowing Brooke, she'll probably screw that up, too. Just . . . don't kill each other, please?" she requested.

"Kill her?" Brandon echoed, looking at her incredulously. "One, I'm a Whitelighter and I'm supposed to be a pacifist. Two, I can barely sit up on my own, let alone kill Brooke."

Susan smiled faintly. "Okay, good point," she conceded. "All right, then I'll see you guys later." She was halfway out the door when Brooke came out, already with her jacket on and her purse on her shoulder. "Hold it right there, missy, where do you think you're going?"

"I've got some stuff to take care of," Brooke said lightly. She quickly hurried out the door before Susan could stop her. "Okay, bye, and I'll see you at dinner tonight!"

"Brooke!" Susan yelled, looking furious, but the nymph-witch was already gone. "Oh! That is so like her," she grumbled, slamming the door shut. "Now, what am I going to do? I can't go out and leave you here by yourself."

"I'll be fine," Brandon told her, though he seriously doubted it. "Just go, have a good time." She hesitated. "I'm fine, Susan, seriously, go. Nothing's going to happen."

"No, I can't just leave you here by yourself," Susan said just as orbing lights appeared in the room and she turned around, startled, as they formed into an Elder. "And that just completely changes everything. Bye, Brandon."

"Susan, wait," the Elder, Curtis, said, stopping her. "Please, let me speak. This cannot continue."

She turned on her heel towards him, her blue eyes blazing with anger and fury. Brandon shivered slightly as he felt the power in her gaze and sensed her uttermost fury as she stood there. "Oh, you want to talk?" she asked coldly, tossing her purse onto the chair as she walked towards him. "Sure, let's talk. What could we possibly have to talk about?"

"Okay, will you just listen to him, please?" Brandon interjected. She glared at him. "He might actually have something important to say."

"Listen, Whitelighter-boy, if you want to continue to be on my good side and hang around here, then I would suggest you be on my side," Susan told him, not sparing him any sympathy.

Brandon sighed. "Susie, I am on your side. I just really think that you should listen to him, at least for right now." She only stared at him unblinking, not masking her cold fury. "It's what your brother would want," he said softly. "He would not want you to hold a grudge against anybody, especially if there may be innocents in danger."

Susan sighed, running a hand through her hair as she glanced sideways towards the Elder. Brandon inwardly cheered. He'd got her! "Fine," she said shortly. "Five minutes, that's all I'm willing to give you and it starts now."

"It's more than fair, Susan," Curtis said with a gentle smile at her as she sat down on the chair, folding her arms across her chest.

She glared at him icily. "It's _Miss Dawson_," she told him, making her meaning clear. Under no circumstances did she want to be informal with any of the Elders.

He nodded. "Miss Dawson, we have felt a great shift in the balance between good and evil," he explained. "Something that could very well affect the future and tip the balance of power, perhaps irreversibly, in the favour of evil. And we—the other Elders and I—we believe that it may be directly involved with Peter Connelly." Susan made some movement at this. "I believe that you know him, don't you?"

"No," she answered. "Well, yes, I mean, I've heard of him. He's been sending some demons after us, but I've never actually met the man." Brandon noticed that she didn't mention that she knew his son. Which was probably a good thing; if the Elders knew about Bobby, there was a good chance that evil might find out about it. And if Bobby was found out, then it could put him in very real danger.

Even though she didn't know about Bobby, she still cared about him, Brandon knew. And somewhere, however unconsciously, she knew the truth about him. She knew, deep down, that he was her younger half-brother. Of course, it would probably take some time—and some pushing—for her to realise this truth.

"Yes, we've been talking about that," Curtis said as he paced back and forth across the room. "And after this incident—" He gestured towards Brandon, lying helplessly on the couch. "We believe that Peter Connelly is the new ruler of the Underworld. Not only that, but he is gaining support."

"Would that explain the sudden tipping of the scales?" Brandon wanted to know as he attempted to sit up. Susan got up and helped him, pushing the pillows so that he could lean against them comfortably. "Thanks."

"Sure," she said quietly as she looked towards the Elder, who was watching them with quiet sorrow. If Susan noticed this, she didn't comment on it. "Would that explain it?"

"Possibly, but I don't think that's entirely it," Curtis answered. "You see, Peter is a fallen witch, but he could very well take control of the Underworld, but he would have to have the _Grimoire_ in order to do that." Brandon let out a low whistle in understanding.

"The _Grimoire_?" Susan whispered to him, her expression slightly confused as she regarded the Elder warily.

"Evil Book of Shadows," he responded just as quietly. She nodded, leaning back in her chair. "But I don't get why he would need that. Even without the power that the Source had, Peter is still pretty powerful, maybe even more so than he was."

"But he could be stopped," Curtis replied. "The Charmed Ones managed to vanquish the Source three times and sealed away the _Grimoire_ so no one else could be crowned the new ruler of the Underworld."

"But an ancient evil came and made him in complete control when he saw how the Underworld had been thrown into chaos," Brandon added. "The demon that captured me over at the Connelly place told me. Apparently, he was the one who crowned the original Source."

"And I believe that he views you as a threat, Miss Dawson," Curtis said. "You and the Halliwell brothers as well as Miss Murphy. And I believe _that_ is the reason why he is after the _Grimoire_. To find some way to break the circle that the four of you have formed."

Susan's face was reserved as she surveyed him. "How?" she asked, her voice quiet. For the moment, at least, she was going to work with him. "How could do something like that?"

Curtis looked at her. "I don't know."

Brandon looked towards Susan, noting the tight look that had crossed her face. "Maybe you should go get Chris and Wyatt, see if we can stop Connelly before he gets to the _Grimoire_," he told her. "We can catch Brooke up on the details later."

But Susan didn't even seem to hear him; she was staring at the Elder with distrust in her eyes. "If you're so eager to work with me," she said softly, "then why did you guys send that assassin after Ryan and me? When we were only thirteen, might I add?"

Curtis sighed, taking a seat across from her. "Miss Dawson, that was an error caused by some of us—"

"An error? Is that what you call it?" Susan stood up, rage filling through her face again. "That's not what I call it. I call it a stupid mistake caused by fear and insanity. Fear that was provoked by no valid reason, might I add? You screwed up, you know that? And now you're going to have to pay the price for that mistake."

"I am in complete agreement with you, Miss Dawson," Curtis told her. "But you must not forget that I was the one who warned you what was going to happen. As you said, you were only thirteen, just a child. And had I not, there was a good chance you might not have stood a chance against the assassin."

Susan scowled. "Don't think for a second that I consider myself to be in your debt," she threatened him.

"Of course not," he assured her. "You have no reason to be in my debt because of what my colleagues did, Miss Dawson. I was merely pointing out that not all of us agreed with what happened. And you cannot condemn all of us because of the mistake that a few made."

"A few that nearly cost Ryan and I our lives," Susan muttered under her breath. She could feel Brandon's gaze on her and silently cursed him. Every time that he looked at her like that, whenever she mentioned Ryan, she could almost see her brother looking out from Brandon's eyes. She didn't know what it meant, but she knew she would find out eventually. "Just because our father went down the wrong path."

"It was wrong what they did," Curtis told her gently, "but are you going to let innocents die because of it?"

Susan sighed; she hated it whenever one of Them made sense. It only made things worse. She looked at Curtis. "If you or any of your colleagues come near me when I'm alone," she warned him, "then I promise you that will be the last thing that any of you do. If you have to talk to me, then you do it when there's somebody with me."

"Agreed," Curtis said with a relieved sigh.

"Then how are we going to find this _Grimoire_?" Susan asked him. Curtis smiled slightly.

--

"Chris?" Susan called, entering the Halliwells' apartment. "Wyatt! Where are you guys?" Almost instantly, Chris came out of the kitchen, followed by Wyatt. Both of them were looking worried as they looked towards her.

"Sue, what's going on?" Chris asked her. "What's wrong?"

"Peter Connelly is after the _Grimoire_," she told them. Both brothers stared at her, then at each other.

"I'll go call Mom," Wyatt said, heading back into the kitchen to grab the telephone.

"We'll go make some potions," Chris said as he and Susan followed him into the kitchen, starting on the brews.


	3. Getting Help

**Legacy: Ghost of the Past**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Three: Getting Help

Bobby Connelly climbed out of the car without so much as glancing at the chaperone, who was just a demon who worked for his dad, and headed into Baker High, hoisting his bag higher onto his shoulder as he glanced back to make sure that the car was gone. Letting out a sigh of relief as he saw it round the corner, Bobby relaxed visibly.

Casting a quick glance around him to see if Parker was following him again—he'd taken to doing that for the past few weeks, something he was _sure_ that his sister had something to do with—Bobby climbed up the steps into the school, joining the crowd as he pushed his way through the hectic school. A few people waved when they saw him and called their hellos, others simply nodded.

This was why he liked it better at school than he did at home; he didn't have to pretend to be someone that he wasn't. And his father wasn't there to mark his every move. Not to mention, he didn't have to dwell on the fact that his mother was still under the spell cast by his father.

Stopping by his locker, Bobby spun the dial and put in the combination just as a pretty brunette girl walked up next to him, leaning against the lockers. "Hey, Bobby," she said, smiling at him. "What's going on?"

Bobby smiled back. "Hey, Patty," he said to Parker's little sister. She was a nice girl, not to mention she was an awesome keyboard player. Her band sounded awesome until they lost their lead guitarist, who moved away to college.

"So, Parker said that you're friends with my cousin's new girlfriend?" Patty remarked as she held her books against her chest. Bobby nodded as he picked up some of his books, not really wanting to get into the subject of Susan at the moment. It was a really complicated situation. "What's she like?"

"Uh . . . Patty, I really don't know her very well," Bobby said uncomfortably, but groaned when he saw the look in her eyes. "She's pretty nice, I guess. Resourceful and really can back a good punch, if she puts her mind to it," he added dryly.

Patty laughed. "Sounds like you know her pretty well," she remarked. "A lot better than you're letting on." Bobby gulped, but said nothing. "So, anyway, Aunt Piper's gonna have us play at P3 on Saturday night. She's opening up the club for teens that night."

"Can she do that?" Bobby asked.

"Well, anybody over 21 has to wear a stupid bracelet so that they're legalised to drink, but other than that, it's legal," Patty answered. "Of course, without Quentin there, we're going to fall flat on our faces."

"I'm sorry," Bobby said, meaning it. "Really, I am. You guys sounded great when I heard you last summer." She smiled and he felt his heart skip a beat and his mind scrambled to find something else to say. "It's too bad that Quentin left, though."

"Parker said that you play guitar," Patty said as she straightened up to look at him directly in the eyes. "You got lessens when you were younger, didn't you? How come you stopped?"

"Well, my dad didn't really approve of it in the beginning and then last year—" What could he say to her? His dad decided that he should contribute to the household and become a demonic guard? There was no way he could say that. He didn't know how much the brothers and Parker had told the rest of the family and he liked Patty well enough not to jeopardise his relationship with her. "Well, he didn't want me doing it anymore."

"What if you were doing it to play in a band?" Patty asked him, turning around to face him directly. Bobby stared at her. "Come on, Bobby, I'm desperate here. If we go on that stage without a guitarist, then we're going to suck big time and I can never show my face at school again. So please, Bobby, do it for me."

"I don't know," Bobby admitted. He actually wasn't even scheduled to do any guard duty on Saturday and as long as his dad didn't find out about it, then he didn't really foresee a problem.

But the truth was, he was scared to death of his father. Especially after what happened a couple weeks ago. He had tried to kill his own daughter just to get rid of her, to end whatever threat she was supposed to bring. Bobby really wanted to keep an eye on things at the house, in case he tried something like that again.

Then again, Susan was a big girl and she could handle herself for one night, couldn't she? And he would love to play guitar again . . .

"I'm not promising anything, but I'll try and work it out," Bobby told her. She grinned triumphantly and threw her arms around him.

"Thank you!" she squealed. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! You are the best!" She kissed him on the cheek and Bobby felt his cheeks flame with embarrassment as the kids in the vicinity whistled and gave cat-calls to them. Patty only laughed as she released Bobby. "Did I say thank you?"

"Yeah, you did," Bobby said, still a bit embarrassed as he shut his locker. "But I did say that I'm not promising anything. Dad might have something planned that I don't know about or he'll just put his foot down or something." Then a thought occurred to him. "Uh . . . Patty, I don't have a guitar."

"That's okay, Parker's got one that you can borrow," Patty assured him. "I already asked him, don't worry."

"I don't know any of your guys' songs."

"Can you meet us tomorrow after school?"

"Yeah, until eight," Bobby answered. That was when he was scheduled to take over for one of the demons that were guarding something for his dad. He had never wondered what it was, but now the thought occurred to him that it might hold some answers to why his dad was so desperate to kill his sister.

"That'll do fine," Patty replied. "I'll give you the lyrics of the songs so that you can memorise them tonight and we'll meet tomorrow to try and blend in to a band, okay?"

Bobby grinned; this actually was starting to sound like fun, something he hadn't done for a long time. "All right, count me in."

--

While her (un-revealed) little brother was trying to get a sense of normality in his life, Susan was frantically trying to brew potions with Chris while his older brother was talking to his mother on the phone, getting the location of the _Grimoire_ so they could try and get it before Peter did. The chance of accomplishing that was slim to none, but they were running out of options and time. Every second that passed, Peter was getting that much closer to the _Grimoire_ with them lagging behind.

"All right, got it," Wyatt announced as he hung up the phone. "Dad was able to remember exactly where he'd hidden it in the West Andes. So we should probably get going if we want to have a chance to beat Peter there." Susan nodded as she bottled up another potion.

"Well, we're all set," Susan said as Chris plucked up a few more bottles, tossing some to Wyatt and pocketing the others. "But I still don't understand why he's so obsessed with me. As far as I know, I didn't even do anything to this guy."

"Which is exactly why you're not going," Chris responded, turning to look at her. She opened her mouth to retort. "Look, Susan, Wy and I can go and track down the _Grimoire_. You need to stay here and go down to Baker High and talk to Bobby, see if he knows anything about what Peter wants the _Grimoire_ for. Because that is a more pressing problem if he gets it. All three of us don't have to go to stop him from getting it, not if we're already too late."

Susan stared at him, not looking happy at the current situation. "Fine," she said softly, standing up and kissing him. "But you had better come back, otherwise I'm going to bring you both back from the dead just so I can kill you myself. Okay?" she said with a bright smile.

Turning around, she grabbed her purse off the table and headed out the door, shutting it behind her. Climbing down the steps, Susan climbed into her beat-up 2000 blue Cavalier, shutting it behind her. Backing out of the parking lot of the apartment complex, she navigated her way through traffic as she drove towards Baker High.

It wasn't hard to find; she drove past it every day on the way to work and with classes dismissing, she found the building pretty easily, pulling into an empty space next to the sidewalk. Letting out a deep sigh, she unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed out, keeping a careful glance around to make sure that she didn't accidentally miss Bobby. Of course, the way that boy was, he might just slip away on purpose, not wanting to be seen with her.

Then again, the way that he had been lately, he might be willing to take that risk. He did promise her that he'd come to her for help if he ever needed it. She wasn't sure what it was about that kid, but there was just something about that kid . . . she just couldn't help liking him. He reminded her so much of herself, willing to risk his own safety to help the ones he loved. She would've done the same thing for her own mother or Ryan, if they were in the situation that his mother was in. And she would do it for Brooke or Chris or even Wyatt.

Luckily, though, Bobby came out of school with some girl that reminded her of Chris. She wasn't sure what it was, but she guessed that this was another one of his cousins, probably Parker's sister. She was talking to him as Susan walked over to them.

"Bobby!" she called and he looked around at her, a flicker of fear crossing his face. "Hey, we need to talk."

"What are you doing here?" Bobby asked her before glancing towards the girl, who was regarding her curiously. Susan looked towards the girl, giving her a warm smile.

"Hi, I'm Susan Dawson," she said, extending a hand, to which the girl returned it warmly.

"I'm Patty Matthews-Mitchell," she said with a grin. She glanced at Bobby, then towards Susan again. "So, are you Chris's Susan?"

Susan laughed, a bit startled by her bluntness, but she had a genuine likeability about her. "Uh . . . I wasn't aware that people were calling me that, but yeah, I guess I am," she said, a bit embarrassed. "So, um . . . are you Parker's sister?" She nodded. "All right, well, it's nice to meet you. Normally, I wouldn't be just brushing you off like this, but I need to talk to Bobby about something." Looking at Bobby, she added, "It's _important_."

He regarded her warily, then glanced at Patty and sighed. "What do you guys need my help with this time?"

"The Elders think that your dad is after the _Grimoire_," Susan told him. "And he's going to use its power against us for some reason. Do you know what he could be planning to use it for?"

Something of shock flitted across Bobby's face; clearly this was the last thing that he had expected her to say. "Whoa, wait a minute, Susan," he said sharply, "did you just say the _Grimoire_?"

She nodded. "Yeah, apparently They've felt a big shift in the balance of power, too, which means that your dad's up to something. And considering that he's done nothing but try and kill me the past few months, I don't think that it's anything good."

"Hold on a second, that's not possible," Patty interrupted. Her blue eyes were wide with shock. "Mom, Aunt Piper, and Aunt Phoebe got rid of the _Grimoire_ years ago, before Wyatt was born."

"No, they hid it," Susan corrected, glancing at her. "That's not the same as destroying it. Anyone, Peter's apparently found out where its been hidden at. Chris and Wyatt are on their way there now, to try and cut him off, but in case that they don't get there in time—"

"I don't know anything about this," Bobby told her. He was telling the truth, she knew, just by looking at him. "Dad never told me anything about any of this." Panic was flying across his face. "But from past experience, I'd say that he's given up trying to kill you directly. So he'd probably do something that would try and weaken you somehow."

"Yeah, that's what the Elders figured, fast forward please," Susan requested. He made a face at her. "Sorry, I'm a little irritated today."

"Tell me about it," Bobby sighed. "I don't know what he would use, because I've never seen him in this situation before. Nobody's ever managed to outwit his plans before. At least, not this long and survived. Probably why he views you as such as threat," he added with a wry smile.

Susan shook her head. "At this point, I think I'd prefer to be thought of as someone who's not worth his time," she told him. Bobby grinned. "You don't have the slightest idea what he _might_ be up to?"

"If I knew anything, then I would tell you," Bobby said honestly. "And I guess it's my fault for not paying as much attention to Dad's work as I should have." He looked guilty. "The last few weeks, I've been trying to figure out a way to help Mom. I know," he added quickly, "that shouldn't have been my first priority, but—"

Susan reached out and touched his shoulder gently. "Of course it should've," she told him. She couldn't help but wonder how familiar this felt, as though she had been doing it all of her life. If she had been asked before this, she would have thought it would feel strange and alien, but it didn't. No, it _was_ strange, but not in an unfamiliar way. It was like she had been doing it forever. But how could that be? she thought.

Realising Bobby had said something, she asked, "What?"

"I said," Bobby said, looking up at her, "that I think I know where Dad might be going with it."


	4. One Witch Down

**Legacy: Ghosts of the Past**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Four: One Witch Down

"Why couldn't Dad have found an easier place to get to when he hid this stupid book?" Wyatt grumbled as he pushed a branch out of the way in order to get through. "I mean, I know that it was supposed to keep that thing safe and away from demons, but you know, they were bound to find out where it was eventually, so why not send it someplace that wasn't so hard to find?"

"Because he was actually hoping that nobody would be crazy enough to try and look for it here," Chris muttered as he followed his brother. "Speaking of crazy, though, what were you thinking, telling Susan about Bianca this morning? Are you out of your mind?"

"What?" Wyatt asked, glancing at him. "Don't tell me that you haven't told your girlfriend that you were dating a demon. Besides, it's a rite of passage in this family. You're never officially a Halliwell until you've dated one." He grinned slightly and Chris rolled his eyes; Wyatt had officially gone out with at least seven demons, not knowing that they were demons. "Sorry, all right? It just slipped out." He paused. "So what did you tell her?"

"Susan?" Chris asked, glancing towards his brother. Wyatt nodded. "I just told her that she was a demonic ex-girlfriend that we had to vanquish. She was a little uneasy about the whole 'I dated a demon' thing, but she seemed to be okay."

"If you say so."

Chris shook his head, then stopped dead in his tracks, sensing the evil presence that accompanied the _Grimoire_. "Hold on a second," he said softly. Wyatt stopped too, glancing towards his brother. "Do you feel that?" he wanted to know.

Closing his eyes, Chris felt his brother cast out his sensing power with their telepathy and then nodded. "Yeah," he said quietly. "It's close. That way," he added, pointing to their left. Chris nodded as they pushed their way through the jungle.

"So what's the deal with Brooke this morning?" Chris asked, glancing sideways at his brother. "Susan said she ran out of the apartment pretty early and in a hurry."

"She had something that she had to do this morning," Wyatt said vaguely as two demons appeared in front of them. Chris blasted one of them with his exploding power and Wyatt sent an energy ball towards the second one, blowing him into pieces. "Oh, yeah, we're definitely close."

"Oh, because the pressure of evil is so thick you could cut it with a knife isn't enough?" Chris asked sarcastically. "You needed two of those oversized minions to tell you that?"

"And I was so hoping that your girlfriend would be able to get a handle on that sarcastic wit of yours," Wyatt sighed. "I'm so disappointed that I was wrong. I should probably talk to her about that. Might not be too late." Chris rolled his eyes.

Before he could answer, however, both Wyatt and Chris fell through a hole in the ground as it gave way. The two brothers landed with a grunt and Chris groaned, rolling over as he felt a knife pressed at his throat.

"So glad that you could join us, witch," a voice said and Chris glanced up to find a man with a sword standing right next to him. He tried to move his arm, but winced as pain shot through it. He must've broken it when he fell, he realised as Wyatt let out an exclamation. "I wouldn't try that, Wyatt Halliwell. Otherwise your brother might not live to see the next sunrise."

Glancing towards Wyatt, Chris saw him lower his hand, glaring furiously towards the man—or whatever he was—that was holding his brother prisoner. "What do you want?"

"I've already got what I want," the man replied. Chris stared at him and realised that in his free hand, he was carrying a large, black book. He held it up so that the brothers could see it clearly. The evil that was emitting from it made it difficult for Chris to breathe. "The _Grimoire_."

"Peter Connelly," Wyatt realised. A bit late, Chris thought, who had guessed who he was the moment that he laid eyes on the man. A few of the demons who were standing around them chuckled menacingly. Wyatt looked unnerved, but immediately regained his composure. "Let my brother go."

"Or what?"

"Or I'll kill you in a heartbeat," Wyatt threatened. Connelly laughed and only pressed the blade further towards Chris's neck. Sucking in his breath, Chris kicked Connelly in the groin, making him double over in pain.

Not wasting any time, Chris leaped up and rejoined his brother, who was telekinetically moving the _Grimoire_ towards them. The minute it was in view, Wyatt reached for it.

"Don't!" Chris yelled, but it was too late. Wyatt had reached for it with his hands and the _Grimoire_ sailed away from them, landing near Connelly.

"Wyatt, don't you remember Mom's stories?" Chris demanded, glaring at his brother. "It's like the Book of Shadows, only it protects itself from good." Wyatt swore as Connelly pushed himself up and managed to get to the _Grimoire_, holding on to it.

"Get rid of the elder," he told the demons. "But remember, bring the younger one to me." Without another word, he disappeared, leaving his demons to deal with the brothers.

"I'll take the ones on the left, you take the ones on the right," Wyatt instructed, glancing towards Chris. Then he frowned. "What's wrong with your arm?" he wanted to know.

Chris grimaced. "I think I broke it."

"Great," Wyatt sighed. "Okay, new plan. Can you still blast things?" Chris nodded, flexing the fingers on his right uninjured hand, glaring towards the demons. "All right, blast as many as you can get, then orb out."

"We can't orb out of here, I already tried," Chris replied. He had noticed the minute that they arrived in here that he hadn't been able to orb anywhere in the room.

"Then run towards the exit," Wyatt ordered as the demons started to attack them. "Chris, hurry!"

--

Brooke sighed as she walked through the department store in the full uniform that she now wore, feeling exceptionally sorry that she had run out on Susan this morning after promising that she would take care of Brandon. But she had an interview first thing this morning and they'd given her the job on the spot, on the condition that she started today.

_Somehow, I'm not really feeling like 7.50 an hour is worth this, _she thought with a sigh as people's thoughts started to bug her again. It usually did, whenever she was in the middle of a big crowd like this, with people expressing more inwardly than outwardly. _I really hate being a telepath sometimes. It's more trouble than it's worth. _

_You have no idea, witch._

Brooke turned around as she heard a telepathic voice penetrate into her mind. She stared all around her, searching for the demon that was intruding, but saw nothing.

At least nothing that she could find, either with her eyes or searching for a demonic mind telepathically. Which wasn't too hard to do; demons were so much easier to find than ordinary humans. If there was a demon in the crowd, then she could usually find them pretty easily.

Unless they weren't in the crowd and they were communicating telepathy from pretty far away. Then there was reason to worry, because the further away they were, then that meant the more powerful the telepath was. Unfortunately, Brooke's telepathy was more close-minded. She couldn't reach somebody unless they were pretty close to her, usually within a block.

Hoping that it was just her imagination and she hadn't really heard someone in her mind, Brooke returned to what she was doing and helped one of her co-workers at the check out. The line was almost a mile long.

"Is it always this crowded?" Brooke asked Andrea as she finished checking out a man buying a watch and moved on to a woman who had an armload of clothes. _Wish I was doing that right about now,_ she thought longingly as she scanned the clothes.

"Usually," Andrea answered as the line began to die down. She glanced sideways at Brooke. "Hey, are you okay? You look a little pale." Andrea stared at her carefully. "Brooke, you seriously look sick. Maybe you should go take a break and sit down or something. Get a drink. Go ahead, I'll go take care of everything here."

"Thank you," Brooke said gratefully as she went to the break room. She sank down onto one of the chairs, placing her head into her hands. The room around her was spinning and she felt as though her mind was splitting apart just as a man appeared in front of her.

"You're not supposed to be back here, mister," she muttered. "The restrooms are around the corner." When he didn't leave, she glanced up at him and froze, her eyes going wide.

"Oh, don't worry, Miss Murphy, I'm not going to hurt you," Peter Connelly told her. "Permanently, anyway." She scrambled out of her chair, backing away from him. "You see, I need to extract sweet revenge against a certain friend of yours and you're standing in my way. It's nothing personal, I just need to get you out of the way until I've finished the job."

"Look," Brooke said, her heart beating fast in her chest as she was backed into a corner. "If this is about that stupid prophecy—" She gasped as his hand curled around her throat.

Peter looked positively livid. "How do you know about the prophecy?" he demanded. "How do you know?"

"A—a friend told me," she whispered. "Someone who's gone now. To a better place," she whimpered and his grip loosened around her throat. She gasped, able to breathe again.

"Unfortunately for you, Miss Murphy, I trust and believe no one," Peter told her. "Which is the reason why I am still alive after all of these years. So I'm afraid that I'm going to have to do a little damage to control in order to keep your mouth shut."

Brooke tried to scream for help, but his eyes glowed slightly and she felt blackness all around her, enveloping her in its cold, cruel embrace. It swept her through, throwing her into the darkness. It was like a cage, keeping her imprisoned there like an animal.

"Susan!" she screamed. "Wyatt! Chris! Somebody, please help me!" She heard cold laughter somewhere nearby, yet so far away as she struggled to find the way out, pounding against the darkness, trying to force her way through.

"_Darkness, leave this place,_

_let this witch be released with haste._

_From the darkness to the light_

_release her, do not fight."_

The spell did nothing more than give her a slight view on what was happening on the outside. Peter was slowly lowering her limp body onto the ground and then grinned maliciously.

"That stupid witchlighter and the brothers are next, Miss Murphy," he told her. "Don't worry, I'll take good care of them." Then he vanished without another word, disappearing into nothingness.

Brooke felt horror run through her as the darkness pulled her into its embrace again. Peter Connelly was going after Susan, Wyatt, and Chris, to kill them or do the same to her and imprison them in their own minds.

And there was no way to warn them.


	5. Breaking and Entering

**Legacy: Ghost of the Past**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Five: Breaking and Entering

Bobby was quiet as he sat in the passenger seat of his sister's car, staring out at the streets of San Francisco as they whizzed by. Unable to think of anything to say, he reached down and flipped on the radio, turning it onto the oldies station. Susan glanced at him, then towards the radio and shook her head in annoyance.

"Hey, kid, my car, my radio," she said with a smirk. Bobby chuckled as he leaned back.

"Yeah, well, try and stop me," he told her simply. "Try and do that, keep your eyes on the road, and panic about what horrors my dad is going to unleash if he gets what he wants. Oh, and while you're doing that, worry about Chris and Wyatt being in trouble."

Susan was quiet for a minute, her blue eyes filled with concern. "He's hurt," she said quietly. Bobby looked at her quickly. "Chris is hurt. It's not serious, but I can still feel him in pain. They got there too late. Peter's on his way to start whatever it is that he's after."

Taking a deep breath, Bobby looked away. "Can you always sense when he's hurt?" he asked her.

"It's becoming easier to do it, the more I know him and—" Susan stopped in mid-sentence.

"The more you fall in love with him?" Bobby asked her. She looked at him and slowly nodded, turning her attention back to the road. "I think that's great, that you're able to find somebody who can love you and who you love back. It's really great, Susan," he told her. "That's more than most people can do nowadays." He sighed, thinking of his own parents.

"My parents were never in love either, Bobby," Susan told him. He looked around at her. "I don't think that my mom was ever really in love with my father, just . . . was captivated by him." Bobby looked away, uncomfortable with the conversation. "And for a long time, I really believed that her life was how mine was destined to end up."

"Yeah, well, it's like people always say," Bobby muttered. "You look at your parents and that's who you are in about twenty or so years."

"I don't think that's true," Susan responded, glancing at him. "I think that sometimes it's true, but not always. You always have the choice to make your own choices about who you want to be, Bobby. To walk away, to stand up for yourself, to make a life for yourself different than what's expected of you." She looked at him. "Do you really think that this is what your mom would want for you? To have to sneak around in order to do what's right?"

"I don't know what she would want, because thanks to my father, I don't know what she's really like," Bobby said coldly. Susan said nothing. "Do you really think that we can make our own choices?"

Susan nodded. "I know we can. Take a look at my father, for instance. The heir of a very powerful witch family of good who turned his back on his family, his heritage, and the lives of people he was destined to save."

"Mine, too," Bobby said with a small smile. "And I guess the two us chose to ally ourselves with good, despite having such a—such fathers."

With a small laugh, Susan nodded. "Yeah, I guess we did," she agreed. "And quit messing with my radio!" she added, reaching for the dial to switch it back to soft rock. Bobby groaned as romantic songs came onto the air, pressing his fingers into his ears to drown it out. Susan laughed just as he saw the office where his father worked out.

"Oh, there it is," he said, pointing. "Pull through there." Susan obeyed and slowed to a stop as a guard stopped her at the gate, rolling down the window.

"Just where do you think you're going, miss?" he asked sternly. Bobby leaned forward into view.

"She's with me, Frank," he said easily. The guard blinked. "We have to go and see my dad. Don't worry, I'll keep her out of trouble."

"Right, then, Mr. Connelly," Frank said, waving them through. "Sorry to keep you waiting. But it's required, you know. Very sorry, go on through," he said, lifting the gate to let them pass through. Susan glanced towards the guard as she drove through.

"Was that a demon?" she asked. Bobby nodded. "How many work here?" she wanted to know.

"How many people are in the building?" Bobby responded. Susan bit her lip, looking worried. Bobby himself was worried; he knew that he could be leading her straight into a trap, but the mansion was no longer safe, since they knew about it. And his father knew that Susan and the others knew about it, so he would go here to cast any spells from the _Grimoire_. "Park there."

"Why do I have the feeling that I'm going to regret this?" Susan muttered as she parked in the spot he indicated.

Bobby shrugged as he climbed out. "Come on, let's go!" he said, hurrying into the building with Susan right behind him, trying to keep up with him. "She's with me," he told the secretary as they ran by her, ignoring the scandalised looks that were on their faces at seeing Peter Connelly's son with his intended target.

_Not if I can help it, Dad,_ Bobby though as they climbed into the elevator. _Not if I can help it. _

The only problem was that barring from some unknown magical force being bestowed upon him, he did not foresee a way that they were going to get out of this alive.

--

"We could've been killed, you know that?" Wyatt grumbled as he bandaged up his brother's arm. Chris was wincing slightly and he sighed, trying to relax so he wouldn't cause his brother any more pain. "Sorry, just a little on edge right now. Jeez, what were the Elders thinking, sending us after them? It was two against two dozen demons!"

"They probably weren't thinking, which is what those Elders do best, you know?" Chris said with a sigh. "But I'm still trying to work out why They won't let you heal me, considering I broke the arm while fighting demons."

"Remind me to go Up There and yell at Them later," Wyatt responded. "Where's Susan at, anyway?"

"She and Bobby probably went after Peter, if he knew anything about what they wanted," Chris answered, shrugging. "Where's Brooke? Shouldn't she be back by now?"

Wyatt shrugged. "She had an interview at a department store to get a job," he said, checking his watch. "Actually, she should be back by now, unless they wanted her to start today." He finished wrapping his brother's arm. "That's about as well as I can do for now. I still think that we should go to the hospital and get it checked out, Chris," he added.

"We'll do it after we stop Peter Connelly from doing whatever it is that he wants to do," Chris replied. Wyatt shook his head; his brother could be _so_ stubborn at times! Unfortunately, he was a bit too much like their mother. "Why don't you call Brooke and I'll call Susan, see what's going on?"

"Fine," Wyatt muttered as Chris picked up his phone, speed dialling to Susan's cell. Chris listened for the ringing, tapping his foot impatiently as his girlfriend picked up at the other end.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Susan, it's me," Chris said, relieved to hear her voice. "We just got back from the West Andes and—"

"Peter Connelly got the _Grimoire_," Susan finished up for him. "Yeah, I figured. Bobby wasn't sure what he wanted with it—or that he was even after it—but he thought he knew where he was going to go with it, so we're down here at his dad's office building, checking things out."

"How's that going?" Chris asked, sitting down and glancing at Wyatt. His brother was talking to somebody, but it wasn't Brooke and he had a slightly panicked look on his face.

"Not too good," Susan admitted. "We can't find anything and Bobby doesn't want to take me up to his office in case somebody sees us there."

"_Will you shut up?_" Chris heard Bobby say in the background. "_What if somebody's listening right now?_"

Susan let out a sigh of exasperation and Chris could practically see her rolling her eyes at Bobby. "Anyway, are you okay?" she asked, sounding worried. Chris frowned slightly, wondering how she could have possibly known. "I thought I sensed that you got hurt earlier."

"Uh . . . yeah, I kind of broke my arm while we were there," Chris admitted. "Wyatt bandaged it up, though."

"Why didn't he just—"

"Stupid Elders wouldn't let him," Chris said by way of explanation. "So, what's the address, we'll meet you there." He telekinetically called a pen and paper over to him and he poised it, ready to scribble down the address.

She told it to him. "It's a big building, Chris, and they've got a lot of guards," she said when he finished writing it down. "So, be careful. I think it might be easier just to orb in here rather than try and break in."

"Sue, I had to break this to you, but either way we'll be breaking in," Chris teased her. Susan scoffed and Chris grinned. "But won't they pick on the orbing? There's some places that are like that."

"I doubt it, otherwise they would have to pick up on shimmering, too, and then they'd have alarms going off all the time," Susan responded. "The whole place is run by demons, every single worker here. I swear, it's like a demonic hive."

"All right, we're going to go pick up Brooke and then we'll meet you there, all right?" Chris asked her. "Hang tight. And Susan?"

"Yeah?"

"Keep an eye out," he said softly. "Connelly gave his demons orders to bring me to him alive. He needs for some reason."

"Why would he need that?" Susan asked. Chris said nothing, mostly because he had no idea. The most evil and vile spells were in the _Grimoire_ and none of them meant anything good. If Connelly needed him for something, then they were in big trouble.

"Just try and keep an eye out," Chris told her at last. "And hang tight, Susan. We're on our way."

"See you in a bit," Susan said softly. "And be careful."

"When am I anything but?" Chris said in mock outrage. Susan chuckled as she hung up and he flipped his cell phone closed just as Wyatt sat down at the table, holding his closed phone in his hands and looking haunted and more scared than Chris had ever seen his older brother.

And _that_ scared _him_.

"Wy?" Chris asked, looking at him. Wyatt looked up at him. "What's going on? What's wrong?"

Wyatt swallowed. "I just finished talking to the lady that Brooke was supposed to have her interview with," he said quietly. "They found her lying in the break room, unconscious. From what she managed to get from the doctors, she's in a coma. And they don't know how she got like that."

Letting out a sigh, Chris looked towards his brother. "I think I do," he said and Wyatt looked up at him. "Peter Connelly. He probably wanted to keep Brooke out of the way for the time being, until he's finished with whatever he needs to be done."

"But what is that?" Wyatt demanded, slamming his hand onto the table. "What does he want us for?"

Chris had no answer to his questions.


	6. Walking into a Trap

**Legacy: Ghost of the Past**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Six: Walking into a Trap

"You know, if we just keep walking around here in circles, then we're never going to find out anything," Susan told Bobby as he took her around another bend. He ignored her. "Look, our best bet is going to be in your dad's office, Bobby, that'll be where he keeps the important stuff so nobody figures out what he's up to unless they go looking someplace where they're not supposed to be."

"For the record, you're not supposed to be here at all," Bobby said grumpily. Then he sighed. "Look, I'm just a little concerned, okay? What if this happens to be a trap?"

Susan chuckled. "Honey, it can always be a trap," she told him. Bobby smiled slightly. "But we're not going to find out anything just by walking around here. If we're going to know what your dad is up to, then we're going to need to get the information he has here."

"Which means going into his office," Bobby sighed as he came to a stop, glancing towards the door that lay in front of him. Susan peered around the corner and saw a woman that was probably Peter's secretary sitting at the desk outside, working on something.

"Bobby, if you're worried that he's going to find out you're helping us—"

"I'm not," Bobby said softly. She glanced at him. "I'm not worried about me, Susan. I'm worried about _you_."

She stared at him, slightly touched by his concealed affection for her. It was hard to find, but she knew that it was there. He was a good kid, despite having such a father and his mother under a spell to keep them both there and forced to work for demons. If he had been born into a different life, then he would undoubtedly be much happier and not so . . . cautious about doing the right thing.

Susan sighed as she faced him, placing her hands onto his shoulders, forcing Bobby to look at her. "Bobby, listen to me," she told him as he looked at her straight into the eyes. And there was that odd look in them as he did so. She had never been able to understand it and didn't today. But he got that same look every time he looked at her straight in the eyes. "Nothing is going to happen to me, all right? I am not going to die today or anytime soon, because I have too much to live for. Nobody is going to be dying today. And if you want to know something, I'm more worried about you," she added. "I'm scared for you, because if your dad is everything that you say he is, then I'm scared what he'll do to you if he ever finds out you're helping us."

Bobby managed a weak smile. "I guess we're just a couple of people who just care too much for others," he said. She chuckled. "All right, I'm going to sneak into the office and see if anybody's in there," he said. "Will you be able to hear me if I call you from in there?"

Susan wondered if that was true; she was only one-fourth Whitelighter and she rarely used her Whitelighter powers. Would she be able to hear him? "I'll try," she told him.

Though he looked severely worried, Bobby stepped into the shadows. Susan watched in amazement as his body vanished into it, letting him disappear into it and move silently and easily through the shadows. The secretary glanced up, as though she had sensed his passing, but shook her head, dismissing it as she returned to what she was doing. Susan could've sworn she saw him slip through the door, but it was only for a second and she was sure she imagined it.

Susan glanced around her, to see if anybody was watching that could've seen what had happened, but there was nobody there and she couldn't sense anybody. Listening carefully, Susan almost jumped when she heard Bobby's voice say, "_Susan._"

Looking both ways, Susan closed her eyes in concentration, concentrating on Bobby's presence as she orbed to him. The moment that she materialised, she grabbed hold of the desk, trying to regain her composure.

"Sorry," she said to a bemused Bobby, "it's been awhile since I've done that on my own."

"Letting your Whitelighter powers go to waste?" Bobby said in mock exasperation as he walked over to his father's desk and opened it. Susan walked around the desk to join him as her eyes caught sight of a picture of Peter and his family on the desk.

"That's her," she said, picking it up. Bobby glanced at the picture and froze. "She's the woman who attacked us a couple months ago." Susan looked at Bobby quickly. "This is your mother?"

"Yeah," Bobby said softly.

"That's strange," Susan muttered. "I thought she was my stepmother, because she thought that I was my mother when she attacked. Did your parents know my mother?"

"I don't know," Bobby answered, a little too quickly, she noticed. "Maybe. But I think we should just find the stuff and go, before anybody finds out that we're here. Hey, look at this," he said suddenly, picking up a file from the drawer and unfolding this. Susan glanced down at the papers and the photos that were inside of it.

"Photos and information on us?" Susan murmured, peering over Bobby's shoulder to stare at it. "Why would he want this for?"

"I don't know, but take a look at this," Bobby said as he found an old parchment torn out of a book. "_At the birth of the twenty-first century, there will be five children born within the first ten years of its life. Two sons of the second daughter of sisters three. A nymph born to witches. The child of a fallen witch. A light from the shadows. Each is strong on their own, but together they are the key to destroying That-Which-Cannot-Be-Named—_that's all that is says," he cut off, looking up at her. "Half of the page is missing."

"The child of a fallen witch," Susan whispered, a tremor filling through her. "That's what that demon Aisling called me, but she said 'daughter' instead of 'child'." Bobby nodded, his gaze fixed on the paper. "The sons of the second daughter of sisters three," she said, pointing to the first line. "That's Wyatt and Chris—their mom was their grandmother's second child and she and her sisters are the Charmed Ones."

"Right," Bobby agreed, looking pale. "And this nymph born to witches . . . that would be Brooke?" She nodded, not liking the sound of this at all. "But who is the light from the shadows?"

Susan shook her head as she took the parchment. "That-Which-Cannot-Be-Named," she said slowly. "What is that?"

Bobby shook his head as he flicked through the other pages, which were all on plain, modern paper. "Hey, look at this," he said, opening it to Chris's page. She looked down at it and saw the name that was circled on the paper. Her stomach inwardly tightened as she saw it, her face going pale. "Who's Bianca Malone?"

Susan said nothing as her hands shook slightly and her face went pale, her mind flashing back to earlier that day, when Wyatt had mentioned Chris's demonic ex-girlfriend in passing.

_"Who's Bianca?" she asked Chris once Wyatt had left the room, looking at him in bewilderment. Chris looked like a fox caught in the headlights as he looked at her. _

_"She, uh . . . she was a girl that I dated a while back," he said simply. "Don't worry about it, it's nothing." _

_"Chris . . ." Susan sighed. "How long is it going to take us to be honest with one another?" _

With a small sigh, Chris raised his head to look at her. "Bianca was a demon that was sent to kill me and Wyatt. I didn't know she was a demon at the time, but we had to vanquish her."

"Oh, gods," Susan muttered as she shoved the parchment into her pocket. "Bobby, put it back." He stared at her. "I know what he's going to do and we need to get out of here, now."

"Why?" Bobby was bewildered, though he did exactly as she told him to, obviously worried about whatever showed on her face due to the amount of fear and panic that was racking through her mind. "What is it?" he asked her. "What's going on?"

"He's going to summon Chris's ex-girlfriend back from the dead," Susan told him as she grabbed Bobby's hand, concentrating on orbing out. But just as soon as she tried, she realised that there was something very wrong and she looked at Bobby fearfully.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't orb," she said, panicking as a low chuckle emerged from behind them and both witches whirled around.

"No, you can't," Peter Connelly said with a smirk. "Although I must admit, I'm impressed, Susan, I didn't think you'd actually figure it out. But don't worry," he told her. "I still have enough heart to make sure you and your boyfriend end up together . . . forever, in the afterlife."

Susan was frozen, not because of what Peter Connelly said, but because the moment she saw him, memories started flooding back.

She remembered. She remembered everything, as how it had been. Ever since the accident, she had thought that there was some kind of lock around her memories of that night, but had assumed it was caused by grief.

No, it was no accident. There had been no car accident. Peter Connelly had come to her house that night, killed her mother, her brother. He had transformed her memories, making her think that it was an accident so that he could get away with it.

Get away with murder.

But before she could say anything—if she could even figure out what she wanted _to_ say—Susan felt her head start to hurt and the room spun around her and she suddenly became aware of just how closer the floor was than it had been the minute before.

She heard Bobby shout her name and felt him turning her over, his face filled with pure terror as her vision became clouded. Then she realised that she wasn't conscious of much else as her eyelids fluttered closed and Susan slipped into a state of unconsciousness.

--

Chris and Wyatt orbed into the law firm that Susan had told Chris they were at, looking for both Susan and Bobby as they searched through the building. "Where could they be at?" Wyatt said, his hands flexing and un-flexing as they reached the top of the building.

Peering around the corner, Chris saw that Peter Connelly's office was just ahead, guarded only by one demon posing as his secretary. "All right, here what we need to do," he said, looking around towards his brother. But Wyatt was gone.

Whirling around, Chris saw Wyatt ahead of him, walking straight into view of the secretary. "Hey, you can't go in there!" the secretary shouted as she stood up. "Stop! I'll call security!"

"Go ahead," Wyatt said carelessly. "Call security." He didn't even look remotely intimidated as he walked past her and pushed open the door to the office and entered the room. She hesitated, but finally let him go, not bothering to carry out her threat to call security.

Chris let out a sigh, half-exasperated with his brother's carelessness and half-admiring his boldness, and looked around at his surroundings. When he was sure that it was clear, he orbed out of the hallway, materialising in the closed office.

"What the . . ." he said when the scene met his eyes before him.

Peter Connelly was sitting calmly at his desk, the _Grimoire_ laying open in front of him. Wyatt was being held back by demons, a knife held at his throat. Susan was lying unconscious on the floor, Bobby kneeling down next to her while demons stood all around them, fireballs at the ready. Chris looked around as demons started surrounding them.

"Welcome, young Halliwell," Connelly remarked. "I'm grateful that you got our invitation." The demons around them chuckled and he stood up, walking over to Chris. "It's amazing how much trouble young people can be. I'm certain I didn't cause as much trouble when I was your age."

"What did you do to her?" Chris demanded, his eyes fixed on his girlfriend's prone body. She was still breathing, he saw with some relief. It was only that comfort that caused him not to start vanquishing demons left and right.

Which, of course, would be extremely difficult, seeing as he only had one working arm right now.

"Now, Mr. Halliwell, you have two choices. You can try and attempt an escape, in which my demons are prepared to kill your girlfriend and your brother should you do so," Connelly told him. "Or you can empty your pockets of the potions and lay them down, slowly, and let me get what I need from you. Once the spell is finished, then you all go free."

"Chris, don't!" Bobby yelled at him. "You can't trust him!"

"Shut your mouth, son," Connelly told him, still watching Chris. "And you can trust _this_: I will get what I need from you, one way or another. And if I have to do it by force, then all of you will die. And just so you know, you can't orb out of this room. There's no way you'd make it out of the room alive."

There was a long pause and then Chris slowly pulled the potions from his pockets, laying them silently at his feet.


	7. Return of an Enemy

**Legacy: Ghost of the Past**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Seven: Return of an Enemy

Chris had to acknowledge the fact that it was crazy to let Connelly brew a potion from the _Grimoire_ and let him take something from him without even knowing what exactly what it was. It wasn't just crazy, it was very stupid, but he was really failing to see what other option they had. They were outnumbered thirty to three, including Bobby, plus they had an unconscious witch to protect and Susan didn't look anywhere near waking up.

The potion was bubbling slightly as Connelly added various ingredients, looking delighted as he did so. "Nearly done," he said quietly as another ingredient was added. "I hope you three are watching this, because after today, no one, demon or witch, is ever going to doubt my power again. The gift of life and death is in my hands."

"Really?" Wyatt said mockingly. "Wow, I'm really impressed. You've got my trembling right here." Chris shot his brother a warning look as Connelly stood up, looking at Wyatt coldly. "Do you really think that one little potion is going to grant you that kind of power? Nobody has that power. _Nobody_," he added more forcefully.

"And here I thought you might be interested in the fate of your little girlfriend, Wyatt Halliwell," Connelly said lightly. Wyatt had to be held back by his demon captors to prevent him from attacking their master. "If you want to know, she's not dead, only kept in a coma until I'm ready for her to wake up."

"Brooke?" Bobby whispered, looking pale. Chris was actually kind of impressed at how well the kid was holding up. Considering that he was aiding his father's enemies, led them, however unintentionally, into a trap, was being held captive, and his father knew he'd been helping them, he was holding up pretty well. "What did you do to her?"

"Nothing, yet," Connelly said without looking at him. "She'll be safe and sound in that comatose state until I'm ready for her to wake up."

"That's sick," Chris snapped. "You can't use people like that and play with people's lives because they don't fit into your plan! You're disgusting!" He wanted to say more, but Susan suddenly groaned and rolled over on her side, her eyelids fluttering open. "Susan! Are you okay?" he asked.

She stared at him, then looked around at their surroundings. "I'm not sure yet," she answered, slowly sitting up with Bobby's help. "What happened?" she asked.

"Well, you passed out," Bobby said weakly.

"Really? That explains the bump on the head," she responded, rubbing her forehead painfully. She shook her head slightly, somewhat dazed, and then looked at Bobby, whispering something to him.

Whatever she said, it startled Bobby a little bit, because he looked anxious, then guilty, and nodded. "Yeah," he whispered softly. "That was real."

Pain shot through Susan's face and tears appeared in her eyes, but they didn't fall. She closed her eyes and her hands clenched together as she looked away, trying to compose herself.

What had happened to her? Chris wondered as he stared at his girlfriend and her quiet, shaken form. What happened before they got there?

But his attention was drawn away from Susan as she glanced towards Connelly, her eyes narrowed as she stared at the potion, her eyes flashing towards Chris for a minute. He could see the message clearly in her eyes: they had to get out of there. Whatever they were up to, it wasn't any good and the only thing to do was find a way out of here and fast, before—

All thought of escaping went out of his mind as Connelly suddenly whirled around and an athame went flying towards his girlfriend. "Susan!" Bobby yelled as he pushed her down. The athame went flying over their heads and implanted itself on the wall.

Susan was white as she looked up and towards Connelly, actual fear in her eyes. She was afraid of him, Chris realised, but why? There was something going on here than he didn't understand. Susan knew it, Bobby knew it, and Connelly knew it. But what was it?

"Any attempt to escape and you're going to end up the same way that your brother did," he threatened as Bobby pushed himself into a sitting position. Susan was pale as she heard that and Bobby flinched involuntarily, staring at his father with a look of fury and pain.

More pain than anger, though, Chris noted with some interested. Bobby leaned against Susan, resting his head onto her shoulder, and she wrapped an arm around him, holding him tightly to comfort him.

Something about the scene looked familiar. Wyatt noticed it too, because he shot a curious look towards Chris. What was going on?

Connelly stood up from the cauldron and walked over to Susan and Bobby, but instead of attacking them, like Chris half-expected him to, he ignored them, seizing the athame from the wall and walked over to Chris.

"It's time," he said softly as the demons held Chris tighter, preventing him from escaping. Physically, they were stronger than he was. Sending a panicked look towards Wyatt, Chris tried to remain calm as Connelly raised the athame towards his throat. "Don't even think about it, Wyatt Halliwell. I'm not picky about where I get his blood from. I could take it from his throat, if I wanted to. Take your pick."

Wyatt, who had been about to lunge forward and attack, hesitated and lowered his gaze, not able to look Chris in the eye. _I'm sorry, bro,_ he said telepathically. Chris said nothing, knowing that this was the only option to getting out of there alive. _I really am. _

_I know. _

_If you got killed, Chris, I couldn't live with myself. At least this way, we'll have half a chance of escaping. _

_I know. _

"That's what I thought," Connelly muttered as he removed the knife from Chris's throat and tore through the sleeve of his shirt. Chris jumped, startled, as the blade pierced his skin and he gritted his teeth at the pain of the blade being pushed through his skin, gathering blood.

"Chris!" Susan shouted, jumping to her feet, but she was preventing from running to him as Bobby grabbed her, holding her back.

"Don't," he whispered. "It might still be all right." Susan shot him a half-exasperated, half-angry look, but she turned her attention back towards Chris, asking with her eyes if he was all right. He gave a short nod as Connelly moved back, the bloodstained athame in his hands as he walked to the cauldron, dropping the athame into it.

"It is time," he whispered, "for a warrior to rise from the dead, to come again to join us in our quest to stop the forces of good." He was grinning evilly as the cauldron started to shake and he walked over to the _Grimoire_, looking at the incantation written on the page.

"_Warrior of darkness,_

_to the land of the dead you passed. _

_Now return with your powers in full. _

_The spell undone, its damage null._

_With the blood of thy killer,_

_return to your destiny and be revived._"

As the spell was finished, everyone stared in astonishment as flames rose around them and a figure appeared in them. Susan grabbed Bobby and pushed through the crowd as she ran to Chris. Holding her tightly, he could feel her shaking underneath his grasp as Wyatt as he broke free from his captors.

"Grab the _Grimoire_!" Chris yelled over the commotion to his brother, who yanked off his jacket and thrust it over the evil book and managed to hold on to it as he raced towards them. But before they could make a run for it, the person that Connelly was bringing back emerged from the flames, her eyes searching the room, finding Chris immediately, who rooted on the spot.

"Hello, Chris," Bianca Malone said.

**--Fade to Black--**

**End Credits**

Jack Devonport as Peter Connelly

Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell

Alexis Bledel as Patty Matthews-Mitchell

Liam Neeson as Curtis the Elder

and Marisol Nichols as Bianca Malone


End file.
